


hopeless hearts (make me ill)

by fuckboibam



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 80s, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bullying, Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Minor Violence, Nerd Byun Baekhyun, Period-Typical Homophobia, Sehun's on the football team, baekhyun gets beaten up because he's gay, john hughes but make it sad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:15:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26543539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fuckboibam/pseuds/fuckboibam
Summary: It’s 1988 in the Midwest, and Baekhyun is gay. And maybe so is the junior varsity quarterback, but that’s not anyone else’s business. alternatively titled: John Hughes but make it gay and sad.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Oh Sehun
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	hopeless hearts (make me ill)

**Author's Note:**

> hi! there is some minor violence in here, homophobia etc. not in the first part, but just be careful if that's something that is gonna be, triggering etc! hope you enjoy this sadfest omg.

Baekhyun’s Monday morning starts with being shoved against his locker. The two boys are members of the football team, and Baekhyun is pretty sure he’s seen them sitting on the bench at the junior varsity games before. Baekhyun can feel the padlock on his locker pressing next to his spine as he tries to move. 

It doesn’t work, and instead one of the boys, Chad, he thinks, forcefully places his forearm across the top of Baekhyun’s chest and pushes slightly. It’s not enough to hurt but definitely enough that Baekhyun is aware of his breathing. 

Baekhyun manages to sigh, and hands his backpack over to them. They take the bag, rifling through it and finding his lunch, and the note from his Mom attached.

‘Baekie, have a good day at school!’ is written in Korean on the post-it note on top, and Baekhyun doesn’t even get the chance to read it before it’s torn up and left on the floor. 

‘Aw, isn’t that cute, your Mommy makes you lunch every day and gives you cute notes in whatever language this shit this is. Bring something good tomorrow, or I’ll find you.’ Baekhyun rolls his eyes and bites his tongue before he says something to piss them off more. 

‘Are we done here?’ Baekhyun asks with a slight quiver in his voice. He hopes that they wouldn’t do much more than push him around a little bit, but he’d heard a story from the year before about Brandon Rogers locking some poor kid in the dumpsters outside. They were there for hours, and the kid transferred out of Park Hill High that semester. 

Baekhyun tries to be tough, he really does, but these dudes are significantly taller than him, and far scarier than any of his friends by far. His best friend, Taeyeon is certainly scary, but she would never be this mean. 

‘Yeah, we’re done, Byun. I’d be careful though.’ They laugh and start to pull off of him, but the pressure is still there a little. He doesn’t dare move. Baekhyun doesn’t even hear him coming, but Sehun Oh appears behind them, and claps one of them on the back threateningly.

‘Stop bothering him, or I’ll report you to Coach Taylor.’ Sehun tells them quietly but audibly. 

‘Why are you sticking up for him?’ The one on the left asks, and Sehun rolls his eyes, but nothing comes out of his mouth. Baekhyun doesn’t dare to say anything either.

‘Are you a fag?’ One of the boys asks, probably jokingly, but Baekhyun’s heart feels like it drops out of his chest. He tries not to look up at Sehun but catches Sehun’s eyes darting to his for a tiny second, and Baekhyun looks down at the ground again trying to avoid angering all three of the boys in front of him. 

‘No, of course not.’ Sehun scoffs, and he punches one of them on the arm as a distraction. ‘Just leave him alone, okay?’ The forearm that has been pushing up against Baekhyun’s upper chest is gone completely, and Baekhyun takes in a big breath. The two boys drop his backpack, and saunter off down the hallway, sending an awful grin Baekhyun’s way before leaving. Sehun apologises quietly to Baekhyun in Korean, bowing his head a little before walking off down the hallway. Baekhyun stares at him stunned. He knows Korean _and_ he apologised for those idiots who he barely knows. 

‘Hey, Baek.’ Baekhyun turns when he hears his name, to see Taeyeon standing next to him. ‘You okay? I ran to get Ms Bennett when I saw them bothering you, but she wasn’t in her classroom.’ 

‘it’s okay, I’m fine. Sehun stopped them.’ Taeyeon gives him a meaningful look, and he purposefully rolls his eyes and turns away from her to stare down the busy hallway. 

‘Oh Sehun, prince charming stepped in and saved you. Did you swoon and fall into his arms too?’ She reaches up to turn his face back towards her, and he can’t help but give her a little smile. He shakes it off a second later and tries to frown again but he can’t find it in himself to be upset. 

‘Shut up, Tae. He just apologised and walked off. Even weirder, he apologised in Korean. I didn’t even realise he spoke it.’

‘Didn’t you know? You’re the one obsessed with him.’ Taeyeon asks quietly, with a lilt of amusement. Baekhyun sighs and pointedly ignores her. 

‘Wasn’t he born here?’ He asks, trying to change the subject. It works, and Taeyeon starts telling him about how his parents don’t speak English well, and his korean is actually pretty good for a midwest boy. 

The bell rings, cutting off Taeyeon from telling him any more gossip about Sehun or his teammates. Baekhyun turns to his locker and opens the lock, pulling out his textbooks. 

‘You have lit with Sehun, hmmm?’ Taeyeon asks him grinning, and Baekhyun sighs again. 

‘He’s straight, Taeyeon, he would probably kill me if he found out.’ 

‘it’s 1988, Baekhyun, times are changing, soon it’ll be totally acceptable to be gay.’ 

‘Yeah right, Taeyeon, I’m going to be stuck in the closet in this shitty town forever.’ 

‘I don’t have time to unpack all of that, but I’m sure you’ll find someone Baek, shut up.’ She slings her backpack onto her shoulder and kisses him on his cheek. ‘I have chem, I gotta go.’ She disappeared down the hall, greeting people and chatting briefly on the way to her class. 

The bell rings again, and he swears to himself, running down the hallway to make it to his lit class. He walks into class three minutes later and sliding into his chair at the front of the class, taking out a notebook and writing down what Ms Bennett is telling them. 

‘Baekhyun?’ Ms Bennett finishes talking about their upcoming assignment and stops right in front of Baekhyun’s desk.

‘Yes Miss?’ He looks up, flashing her a cheeky grin.

‘One more and I give you detention.’ 

⋆☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⋆

On Thursday, Baekhyun is tripped by some kid in the lunch room, and he ends up with ketchup and god knows what else all over his t-shirt. He picks himself up, dusting off his jeans and leaving what used to be his lunch on the floor. He leaves quickly, ignoring the laughs, and the pitiful looks from some of the kids he vaguely knows from choir and band. 

They aren’t his friends, really, but they talk sometimes, when they’re waiting for the teacher to show up. They would never say anything to any of the football team or anyone else who bothers Baekhyun, for fear of retaliation, but they feel bad about it. Baekhyun understands, he really does, but for the second time that week, he’s being targeted by the dumb jocks. He dresses like everyone else, he’s in choir and band, sure, but so are Kyungsoo and Junmyeon and they don’t get bothered half as much as he does. 

Baekhyun wonders if they can tell he’s gay, somehow, like they have mutant powers, or a radar or something. He hasn’t told anyone, besides Taeyeon, and she wouldn’t say anything. Besides, if they knew, he wouldn’t just be being tripped in the lunch room, and shoved against lockers for lunch money. They’d kill him, and he knows they would. 

He rushes out of the lunch room, and runs to the closest men’s bathroom. He locks himself in the furthest stall from the door, and slumps against the wall. He can’t breathe, he can feel his chest tightening, and he can’t do anything but try to take bigger, gasping breaths. His eyes fill with tears, as he tries to sink into himself and disappear. 

He hears the door of the bathroom open and slam against the wall, and Baekhyun jumps, suddenly afraid he’s about to get beaten up. 

‘Baekhyun!’ it’s Kyungsoo, and Baekhyun would sigh in relief if he could breathe at all. ‘Hey, let me in.’ Kyungsoo says far softer, from right outside his stall. Baekhyun reaches to unlock the door, and suddenly Kyungsoo is right in his space, telling him to breathe, to calm down. Kyungsoo locks the door again. Baekhyun listens to him, breathing in and out like Kyungsoo says, and pretty quickly his chest doesn’t feel like it’s being crushed anymore. ‘Are you okay?’ 

‘Is there anyone else in here?’ Baekhyun asks, his voice still shaking a little. 

‘Junmyeon is right here, and otherwise there’s no one in here.’ Junmyeon quietly says hi, and Baekhyun just sobs, his head falling into Kyungsoo’s shoulder. 

‘Why is it like this? I hate them.’ Baekhyun manages through the tears, and Kyungsoo and Junmyeon’s hearts almost break. 

‘I know, it’s hard. Especially because they target you all the time. I don’t know how to fix it, but I promise to do everything I can to make sure it doesn’t happen again, okay. I’m sure Junmyeon will too, and you know Taeyeon will always be here for you to talk. Plus, you know she will go murder those boys herself as soon as she finds out.’ 

‘We’ve been friends since middle school, Baekhyun, we’re gonna do our best.’ Junmyeon tells him through the door, and Kyungsoo unlocks the stall door again.

‘Come on. we have to find you some clean clothes, or something.’ Kyungsoo pulls him out of the door by the wrist softly, and Baekhyun looks in the partly busted bathroom mirror. Baekhyun sighs, looking down at his ruined clothes. 

‘Do either of you have anything?’ Baekhyun asks, and they shake their heads. 

‘Fuck.’ They all stand in silence, Junmyeon and Kyungsoo giving Baekhyun pitiful looks, when the bathroom door slams open again. 

‘Who did this to you, I will KILL THEM.’ Taeyeon yells as she walks into the bathroom. She reaches Baekhyun, and almost pulls him into a hug and realises that he’s covered in food. ‘We’ll raincheck that hug. We need to find you some clothes.’

‘How did you know I was here?’ 

‘Everyone was talking about it in the cafeteria when I got there, so I came straight here. You’re very predictable.’ She jokes, and Baekhyun pointedly ignores her. 

‘The whole school knows?’ Baekhyun asks, quietly, and Taeyeon doesn’t answer him. 

After a few seconds of silence, confirming that the whole school will know about the lunchroom incident, Baekhyun yells something intelligible and walks over to the trashcan on the other side of the room and kicks it over. Junmyeon and Kyungsoo jump at his sudden outburst. Taeyeon looks mildly impressed. 

‘Baek, it’s okay, some drama will happen with the football team soon and everyone will forget.’ Taeyeon tries to comfort him, but he’s still too on edge to think it over logically. ‘I have clothes in my bag, for practice after school, but you can take them. I can wear this, the team will understand.’ Taeyeon continues, stroking his hair softly. 

‘No offence, Tae, but I’m only gonna be bullied more if I wear your clothes. I already get called a fairy without wearing a girl’s clothes.’ Junmyeon and Kyungsoo pat him on the shoulder. 

‘I can see if one of the girl’s boyfriend’s have anything that you can wear?’ Taeyeon tries again, but Baekhyun shakes his head. 

‘I’d rather skip, than try to get one of the meatheads who bully me everyday to give me clothes to wear. 

‘But you have lit? I heard Ms Bennett is giving out group presentations today.’ Kyungsoo questions, and Baekhyun feels like slamming his head against the wall. The door opens again, and Oh Sehun walks in, because of course he does. He’s holding his gym bag, and Baekhyun tries not to look at him for too long. 

‘Oh hey, Taeyeon. And I don’t think we’ve met.’ Sehun says to Kyungsoo and Junmyeon, and they share a questioning look. They introduce themselves quickly, and Sehun says hi again. 

‘Baekhyun, I brought my gym clothes, for you to change into, if you wanted. You could just bounce, but Bennett’s giving out group assignments. Ran into her in the hallway.’

‘Uh thanks, Sehun.’ Baekhyun says, taking the bag. 

‘For sure. See you next period.’ Sehun leaves the bathroom again, and the four of them look between themselves.

‘What?’ Kyungsoo asks. ‘When has Oh Sehun ever been nice to you?’ 

‘On Monday morning when he stopped two meatheads from beating up Baekhyun for not having lunch money.’ Junmyeon makes a small huffing noise, and Kyungsoo scratches his head. 

‘Weird, man.’ The bell rings. 

‘Alright I gotta get to English. You have history, yeah?’ Junmyeon asks Kyungsoo and he nods. ‘I’ll walk you.’ Junmyeon checks on Baekhyun again, and they leave with a wave. 

‘Maybe he has a crush on you?’ Taeyeon asks with a grin as soon as the door to the bathroom closes, and Baekhyun ignores her again. ‘I gotta motor. Get changed, and go to class with lover boy. I’ll call you after school.’ Taeyeon leaves the bathroom, and Baekhyun locks himself back in the stall to get changed. 

⋆☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⋆

Halfway to Lit, Baekhyun is stopped by Brandon Rogers in the hallway, and Baekhyun is immediately afraid of being locked in the dumpsters outside, or worse. He shivers, but squares his shoulders and stands up straight when Rogers stands in front of him.

‘Those clothes your boyfriend’s?’ he asks, smirking at baekhyun. 

‘I’m not gay, Rogers. Someone was nice enough to give me their gym clothes.’ Baekhyun lies through his teeth and hopes to god that he didn’t pick up on it. Baekhyun is terrible at lying. 

‘Sure. Where you off to?’ 

‘Class, no duh.’ Baekhyun mutters under his breath, having had enough of everyone’s bullshit today. He heard, clearly, because Baekhyun is being pulled in by his (Sehun’s) shirt a second later, and his face is less than three inches away from Baekhyun’s. 

‘Don’t disrespect me, Byun. I could destroy you.’ He growls, and Baekhyun tries not to cry again. Rogers stares at him for a couple seconds later, before shoving Baekhyun to the ground. He lands on his wrist, and Baekhyun hears the crack before the pain shoots up his arm. 

Rogers clearly heard it too, because he’s laughing as he walks down the hall, leaving Baekhyun on the floor, struggling to move with the incredible pain in his wrist.

‘Oh Byun?’ he stops walking, but stays with his back turned to Baekhyun. ‘I wouldn’t tell anyone about this.’ He continues walking, and Baekhyun slumps on the floor. 

‘Fuck this.’ Baekhyun mutters to himself as he tries to pick himself up off the floor with only one hand. He finally manages, after a few seconds, and slowly makes his way down the hall to the nurse’s office. 

⋆☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⋆

Sehun volunteers to work with Baekhyun for the project when Baekhyun doesn’t show up to class that afternoon. The class had mostly been paired off, and Sehun had the choice of working with a girl who confessed to him a few weeks before, or Baekhyun. He chooses Baekhyun, and one of the plays of the list that he doesn’t recognise 

‘You’re working with Byun? What’s your damage?’ One of Sehun’s friends asks as they collect their stuff, and Sehun shrugs. 

‘I didn’t wanna be put with Jessica, so I chose Baekhyun instead.’

‘Why not Jessica, man? She’s fine, and I heard the other week that she puts out.’ 

‘She’s not my type, dude.’ Sehun answers as he puts his things in his backpack and swings it over his shoulder.

‘You mind if hit that, then?’ Sehun grimaces, but shakes his head and looks at the classroom door. 

‘Sehun, can you come here for a second?’ Miss Bennett asks him as he approaches her desk. Sehun vaguely hears Kevin leave the classroom and start talking to Jessica. He rolls his eyes. 

‘Am I in trouble?’ Sehun asks, paying attention to his Lit teacher. 

‘No, of course not, Sehun. I just wanted to see if you knew anything about Baekhyun not showing up to class. I figured you were friends, since you volunteered to partner with him for the project.’

‘Something happened at lunch, and he had to change. He said he was coming to class, like five minutes before the bell and then never showed.’ Sehun explained, and a concerned look crossed her face as she puts her things away. 

‘Hm, okay. Thank you Sehun. Be sure to start working on your project soon.’ She finishes packing up her things. She stops, and makes eye contact with Sehun. ‘Check up on him, would you? It’s unusual for him to miss class.’ 

‘I will, Miss Bennett.’ Sehun walks out of the classroom not any less confused, or concerned about Baekhyun. Bennett said he didn’t miss class, and Sehun absolutely believes it. So where would he have gone with Sehun’s clothes?

He wanders down the hallway, towards the exit, when he stops and realises he should at least try to find out what happened to Baekhyun. He waits, for second, thinking about where to find him, when he remembers Taeyeon. She’d be in cheer practice, Sehun remembers because he’d spent plenty an afternoon with his friends trying to hit on the girls while they practiced. He’d mostly sat in silence, studying or reading. 

He walks to the gym, and Taeyeon is standing across the room. 

‘Oh Sehun, this is a closed practice, we want to surprise you for next week’s game!’ One of the girls, Tiffany, Sehun thinks, yells to him. 

‘Not here to watch, just need to talk to Taeyeon for a second.’ He replies, and the girls all make suspicious gasping noises, and Taeyeon jogs across the gym to meet him. 

‘Sehun, what’s up?’ 

‘Have you heard from Baekhyun since lunch time?’ He asks, and she shakes her head. She looks concerned though, when he mentions it. 

‘I was gonna call him later, I usually do after practice. Why?’ 

‘He didn’t show up to lit, Bennett asked me to check up on him.’ sehun explains, but Taeyeon doesn’t look any less confused. 

‘Why?’ 

‘I don’t know why he didn’t show up, something must have happened to him.’ 

‘No, why did she ask you to check?’ 

‘We’re working on that group presentation together.’ Taeyeon makes a small noise, and Sehun can’t quite place what she’s thinking. She looks concerned, and amused, maybe. 

‘Oh okay. Well, I can give you his number and you can call him? I can’t leave practice until 4:30.’ Sehun pulls a pen out of his pocket, and hands it to Taeyeon. Taeyeon grabs his hand, and scrawls the number across his hand, and a little heart next to it. it’s surprisingly cute, Sehun thinks, he wonders why she isn’t dating anyone. 

‘Thanks, Taeyeon. I owe you.’ Sehun grins, and backs out of the gym. 

⋆☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⋆

Sehun drives back to his house quickly, driving the back way to avoid the school traffic that always banks up at this time. 

He gets home in ten minutes, a personal best, and makes his way into the kitchen. 

‘Eomma, how was your day?’ Sehun asks as he walks into the room. His Mom is carefully cooking something that smells delicious, and Sehun is suddenly hungry. His stomach grumbles, and his mother sighs.

‘Your brother was never like this, why are you always so hungry.’ 

‘I’m a growing boy, Ma.’ She smacks him on the hand with her spoon, and continues cooking.

‘I’ll make you something soon, go do your homework.’

‘Actually, I was going to ask if I could call my friend? We have an assignment together and he missed class.’ 

‘Of course, Hunnie, just be quick, your brother was going to call tonight.’ Sehun kisses his Mom on the cheek, and runs up the stairs, two at a time, throwing his backpack in his room, and then sitting down at the desk where the phone sat upstairs. He looks at his hand, and then the phone, and stops. He’s nervous, suddenly, his hands shaking slightly. 

He doesn’t care about Baekhyun, or the stupid project, and he _really_ doesn’t understand why he is reacting like this. He feels bad, sure, his sort-of-friends are cruel, but he doesn’t care. He shouldn’t, anyway. He puts it down to anxiety, and starts dialling the number written messily across his hand. 

⋆☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⋆

The doctor at the hospital gives him an X-Ray and tells him that it’s fractured in two spots, and that he doesn’t need surgery. He will, however, have to wear a cast for the next six weeks. Baekhyun explains to the doctor that he’s clumsy, and he’s often prone to tripping and hurting himself, so it’s annoying but he’ll deal with it. He doesn’t even notice when the doctor gives his Mom a questioning look, and she shakes her head silently. 

They get into the car, and she asks him questions. He tripped, he explains to his Mom, and he tried to protect his face from hitting the floor using his arms to soften the blow a little. Except that’s not the story he told her earlier, and when she next stops at a red light, she turns to him and demands the truth. 

‘It’s nothing, Eomma, don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine.’ 

‘It’s not fine, baby, your wrist is fractured. You can’t play piano, or anything else for six weeks. What about school? Tell me what happened, now.’ The ‘or else you’ll be in trouble was subtext, but Baekhyun absolutely did not want to know what would happen if he didn’t tell her everything right then, so he did. The light turned green, and his Mom turns away from him to focus on driving. 

‘The football team aren’t very nice, it’s basically nothing.’ 

‘Did one of them do this to you?’ she asks, anger seeping into her voice. 

‘He shoved me, and it broke when I fell. No one was there, I can’t do anything to prove it.’ 

‘Next time anything happens, you will tell me, and I’ll be down at that school to yell at the principal about that kid.’ His Mom falls silent, and he nods, but doesn’t say anything else. The drive home lasts for another five minutes, and they both go inside. 

‘Are you gonna be able to do your homework?’ His Mom asks, and he realises that no, his writing hand is the one that’s currently in the sling that the hospital gave him. 

‘I’ll work it out, don’t worry. I’ll talk to my teachers tomorrow.’ Baekhyun tells his Mom. His Mom pulls him into a hug, and he hears her sigh quietly. ‘I’ll be careful, too, I’ll be fine.’ Their moment is broken by the phone in the kitchen ringing. 

‘That’s probably Taeyeon, I’ll get it.’ Baekhyun pulls away from his Mom and runs to the kitchen, answering the phone. 

‘Byun residence, Baekhyun speaking.’ Baekhyun answers the phone, and there’s silence. He sits down at the stool on the counter, and waits for them to start talking. ‘If you called the wrong number, just hang up.’ The voice on the other end starts talking a second later. 

‘Hey, it’s, ah, Oh Sehun, from school, um I was just calling to check up, you didn’t come to lit.’ Baekhyun almost falls off the chair. Why is Oh Sehun calling him? Who gave him his number? Why does he care?

‘How did you get my number?’ Baekhyun asks, breaking his train of thought about Oh Sehun, and how cute he’d looked that day. Come on, Baekhyun, now is _not_ the time. 

‘Taeyeon gave it to me.’ Sehun answers, casually, and Baekhyun actively avoids thinking about the fact that Sehun had to ask Taeyeon for his number, and how Taeyeon would have reacted. 

‘Oh okay.’ Baekhyun responds, and the conversation falls into silence again. 

‘So why weren’t you in lit?’ Sehun breaks the silence, and Baekhyun feels a little more relaxed again. 

‘I’m such a spazz, I tripped over and broke my arm on the way to class, and had to go to the hospital.’ Baekhyun explains. 

‘Well, we’re partners for that presentation in class, I’ve forgot the name of the play we’re doing, but we could meet up in the library tomorrow and start working on it.’ Sehun tells him, even more casually than before and Baekhyun realises how screwed he is. Why couldn’t Bennett just put him with one of the quiet girls, like she usually does. Instead, now he has to suffer while working with the stupid jock he has a crush on. Shit. 

‘We have the same lunch period, so then?’ Baekhyun asks, and Sehun agrees. He mumbles a ‘Bye, see you then,’ to Sehun, and hangs up. and then immediately hits his head on the kitchen bench. 

‘You okay, Baekhyun?’ his dad comes into the kitchen, putting down his briefcase. 

‘I just got paired with someone for a project that is going to be difficult to work with.’

‘I’m sure it’ll be fine, you work well with everybody.’ Baekhyun’s dad pats him on the shoulder and pours himself a cup of water. Baekhyun picks up his backpack off the floor precariously with his right hand, and tries not to knock his other arm on anything as he goes up to his room. 

⋆☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⋆

When Oh Sehun walks into the library on Friday lunchtime, people are surprised. Some of Baekhyun’s acquaintances from choir actually disappear, collecting their things and finding somewhere else to study. He’s not surprised, he would be worried to see any of the football team in here any other day. Today, though, he has a study date, with Oh Sehun. 

‘Not a date.’ Baekhyun mutters to himself and pretends not to be bitter about it. 

‘Baekhyun, how’s your arm?’ Sehun asks quietly as he sits down at the table that Baekhyun’s stuff is spread across. 

They get talking, about his arm, and how weird hospitals are, which leads on to multiple subjects that Baekhyun didn’t think he’d be discussing with Oh Sehun, quarterback of the football team and regular star of Baekhyun’s saucy dreams. He’s easy to talk to, Baekhyun realises. He doesn’t usually say much, but when he’s passionate, or has an opinion, he’ll talk almost as much as Baekhyun does. 

Eventually, Sehun looks at the time and realises that there’s only five minutes left of lunch, and he stands up. 

‘Shit, I’ve gotta head. Don’t wanna miss practice because of a detention. You busy tomorrow? I can come over to your house, and we can start on this project.’ Baekhyun nods, slightly in shock, and Sehun grins. He starts walking towards the double doors. ‘I’ll call you tonight to get your address.’ Sehun basically yells to Baekhyun, and he winces. The librarian gives Sehun a glare that he doesn’t notice as he exits the library. 

‘Sorry, he’s not a library person.’ Baekhyun tells her as he leaves too.

He’s halfway to chemistry when he realises that Oh Sehun just: 1. He promised he would call Baekhyun that night, instead of just asking for his address then, and 2. Invited himself over to his house, on a Saturday to study with him.

What?

⋆☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⋆

Sehun arrives at Baekhyun’s house at exactly 11:23am, and Baekhyun almost melts into a puddle. He’s wearing a light wash denim jacket instead of his usual letterman, and his hair is styled differently. He doesn’t mention it though, as he greets Baekhyun warmly at the front door and walks into the living area of Baekhyun’s house.

Baekhyun’s mother squeals when she sees him walk in, and immediately gets up to fawn over him. 

‘Baekie, you didn’t tell me he’s Korean!’ she excitedly tells her son. 

‘Nice to meet you, Auntie. Baekhyun-ssi and I have an assignment together.’ 

‘Do you speak Korean?’ she asks in an excited voice, and Baekhyun sighs. He knows what’s about to happen, both Junmyeon and Kyungsoo sat through tea with his mother, excitedly speaking with them about their families. 

Sehun doesn’t seem put off by Baekhyun’s mother, and instead takes the offer of tea and follows her into the kitchen. Baekhyun can hear his father laughing from the backyard where he’s reading the paper. He follows his mother and Sehun into the kitchen, where they’re still talking animatedly in Korean.

Baekhyun understands Korean, but it’s not his first language by any stretch, and he has to translate every word into English to understand what’s going on at all. Sehun however, is obviously far better at it that Baekhyun is, and Baek wonders how the hell Sehun is managing to basically woo his Mom like this.

She certainly wasn’t this impressed with Kyungsoo, or Junmyeon for that matter, and both of them are good Koreans who go to church and get good grades. 

‘You’re so handsome, Sehun-ah, how are you friends with my Baekhyunie?’ Baekhyun doesn’t have the time to be shocked that his Mom indirectly called him ugly, because Sehun is being sweet and answering that they have an assignment together but he’s looking forward to getting to know her son. 

Baekhyun’s Mom swoons, and honestly so does Baekhyun, a little. They drink their tea, and Sehun answers questions about school and his family, and Baekhyun tries to translate as he goes, but ends up lost staring at Sehun. He turns to Baekhyun, clearly having asked a question, and Baekhyun continues to stare. 

‘Sorry, what?’ Baekhyun asks, in English, putting down his tea. 

‘Pabo.’ Baekhyun’s mother mutters, and Sehun grins. Baekhyun doesn’t find it half as funny. 

‘We need to go work on our assignment. Your room upstairs?’ Sehun finally says, after he finishes laughing to himself, and Baekhyun mutters in agreement and gets off his chair, beginning to walk up the stairs. 

‘We’ll be upstairs, Eomma.’ Baekhyun says, halfway up the stairs with Sehun following him.

‘I’ll bring you snacks soon.’ She yells, and Baekhyun can’t even be mad at her for calling him an idiot. 

‘Thanks Eomma.’ He yells back as he leads Sehun into his room. 

⋆☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⋆

After less than five minutes of discussing their presentation, Baekhyun realises that Sehun knows nothing about their assignment. 

More specifically, Sehun takes the print out from Ms Bennett, which has Sehun and Baekhyun’s name written across the top. Baekhyun scans it, getting halfway down the page before he sees the name of the play they’re presenting on and Baekhyun’s skin runs cold. 

He questions if he’s been a dick to the universe or something recently, because how is this fair? Sehun picked it off the list, he tells Baekhyun, he hadn’t really heard about it before but at least it wasn’t Shakespeare, right? 

Turns out, Sehun knows nothing about Oscar Wilde, or his plays, and Baekhyun is disappointed, but not all that surprised.

He is surprised however, that they would even be allowed to study it, given how anti-gay the school board had been previously. 

When Baekhyun had been a freshman, his choir teacher had been fired because of gay rumours. He didn’t know if Mr Daniels was really gay or not, but Baekhyun really liked him, and it hurt to see almost the entire school mocking him, bullying a man for nothing but his sexual preference. Or perceived sexual preference, Baekhyun supposes. 

It didn’t matter now though, Baekhyun sitting in his bedroom, with probably the most popular player on junior varsity, trying to find a way to explain that ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ was written by a dude who was arrested and put in prison immediately after this play was showed for the first time because he was gay. Cool. 

Baekhyun finds that Sehun is taking lit this year instead of English, because he was sick of learning what modal verbs are. Instead, he wanted to read books and write essays, which makes it almost ten times harder for Baekhyun. 

Baekhyun realises he’s smart far too late into the conversation . He doesn’t know as much as Baekhyun, but he’s making jokes and references to books that most dumb jocks would never have heard of. He supposes it’s fair that Sehun had never come across Oscar Wilde, especially given the stigma around his work, but god was Baekhyun annoyed that Sehun just happened to choose that one. 

He supposes its better than Shakespeare, but there must have been other good ones on the list, and that way Baekhyun wouldn’t be worried about getting punched in the face by the most popular boy in school. 

⋆☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⋆

Sehun takes it surprisingly well- Baekhyun thinks, anyway. Sehun listens when Baekhyun talks, and stops to ask questions- about the play, about Oscar Wilde himself. 

Sehun doesn’t react, visibly at least, when Baekhyun mentions the gay thing, so he just keeps talking. He doesn’t ask questions, either, and Baekhyun doesn’t know whether Sehun is okay with people being gay, or so not-okay with it that he pretended he didn’t hear it. 

Baekhyun’s sitting on his bed, writing notes from the encyclopedia he’d lugged upstairs the hour before, and Sehun is still asking questions every now and again, writing something down in a small notebook. Baekhyun isn’t sure what, but he leaves him to his writing. 

Either way, they get a fair chunk of the assignment done with the books at home and what Baekhyun knows. It gets to almost 5pm, and Sehun realises the time. 

‘we’ve been working on this for hours.’ Sehun mutters to himself and slumps in Baekhyun’s desk chair. Baekhyun expects him to gather his things, and make some sort of excuse about his plans for the night. ‘You wanna get food? I know a place.’ Sehun tells Baekhyun, and looks to him questioningly. 

‘Um, I better check with Eomma, but it’ll probably be fine.’ Baekhyun leaves the ‘because she likes you’ unspoken. Sehun knows it anyway, and sends him a grin. 

‘How long is the walk?’ 

‘I can drive, it’s not too far away.’ And Baekhyun finds himself agreeing to dinner with Oh Sehun. 

⋆☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⋆

He didn’t expect dinner to be this _intimate_ , to be honest. Sehun took him to an old style diner, just on the outskirts of town, far enough that they wouldn’t run into anyone from school, but close enough that they barely listened to the first half of a mixtape that Sehun had made the month before. 

It looked like it’d been open for a long time, the diner. The pink and blue neon glow emanating from the signs on the wall were new, but the red leather booths were cracked slightly and had clearly seen better days. Sehun leads him to the booth in the corner, and they sit down.

A middle aged waitress with dark hair honest to god skates over to them, and Baekhyun can’t help the little giggle that comes out. She pulls out a notepad, takes a pen out from behind her ear and looks towards Sehun. 

‘Sehun, cutie it’s been a while. And who’s your friend?’ she leans over and pinches Baekhyun’s cheek, and he’s surprised. He really didn’t think that Sehun was the type to have a regular spot, but he’s here, and the waitress recognises him, and also recognises that he isn’t usually with him. 

‘This is Baekhyun, he and I have a project at school.’ 

‘He’s cute, why haven’t you brought him before?’ she asks, and Sehun stops being so cute, and instead looks pensive. Baekhyun reads her nametag (Karen, apparently) and smiles. 

‘We didn’t become friends until recently.’ Baekhyun answers for him, and the waitress looks surprised, but doesn’t say anything. 

‘Usual order, Sehunnie?’ she asks, breaking the silence that had fallen on the table. He shakes off the bad mood that settled and instead grins at Karen. 

‘And what can I get you, sweetie?’ she asks, her pen poised to write down his order even though she hadn’t written down Sehun’s. 

‘Um, cheeseburger? And a strawberry milkshake.’ Karen laughs as she writes something down, and puts her pen back behind her ear. She winks at Sehun, and tells them their food will be there soon before she disappears behind the counter. 

‘So, um.’ Baekhyun begins to question, but realises he doesn’t know what to ask. ‘Do you bring a lot of friends here?’ he goes with, figuring he can ask the rest later. 

‘You’re the first, actually. That’s why Karen was surprised, I think.’ 

‘So you come here alone?’ Baekhyun asks, and Sehun sends him an undecipherable look, for a few seconds, and then nods. Sehun has always been quiet, Baekhyun knows this much, he’s been crushing on Sehun since the third week of freshman year. He came into the drama room by mistake, interrupting Baekhyun’s rant about something, and bowed in apology as he left as quick as he came in. 

Sehun has friends, sort of. He definitely has people he spends time with, like Park Chanyeol on the basketball team, and a few girls from the cheer squad. But he’s never been loud. Baekhyun has never seen him talking over the other boys at the table, or loudly chatting in the hallway like the rest of the football team seem to do every second of their school day that they aren’t in class. And sometimes, even in class. 

Baekhyun wonders why he spends time with them, because it’s clear after the short amount of time they’ve spent together, he’s nothing like the other jocks at their school. He’s just—

Well he’s just Sehun, Baekhyun thinks. 

Sehun makes a coughing noise, and Baekhyun looks up from the table to see Karen standing there with a small smirk, holding a tray with two milkshakes on it. both strawberry, Baekhyun notes, and he wonders if that’s why she’d been laughing earlier. 

He takes a sip as Karen skates away, and makes eye contact across the table with Sehun. It’s so sweet, Baekhyun is surprised that Sehun would like something like this. he’s definitely seen him across the room at parties drinking beer, but seeing him sip on a milkshake sitting less than three feet across from him is a lot. 

Baekhyun would almost call it romantic, honestly, the shared look as they drink their milkshakes in silence, and the little smirk at the corner of Sehun’s mouth. 

‘You look like you have a lot to say.’ Sehun speaks to him, breaking the silence. Baekhyun continues to stare at the younger boy at the table. He does have a lot to say, doesn’t know what to ask first. It doesn’t seem like a problem for Sehun, as he quietly drinks the milkshake and looks out of the window at the almost empty parking lot. 

‘Why me?’ Baekhyun settles on, and Sehun gives him another indecipherable look. His eyebrow quirks a little but he’s still quiet. ‘I didn’t know you knew I existed. But that day you stopped those idiots from taking my lunch, and then giving me your clothes, and volunteering to work with me. Why?’ 

‘I’m not a dick, Baekhyun. Eomma raised me to be nice to everyone, and I don’t think it’s right that those idiots treat you bad when you’ve done nothing wrong.’ Sehun smiles an honest to god grin, and chews down on the cherry that was sitting atop his milkshake, and Baekhyun’s ears turn the lightest shade of pink. 

Sehun says nothing, but Karen comes back a second later and puts down two burgers in front of the boys, and a large plate of fries in the centre of the table. ‘from Mikey.’ She says, and Sehun gives her another small smile. 

‘Tell him thanks, I’ll come in and see him properly soon.’ She nods, and disappears back into the kitchen. Baekhyun sends him a questioning look, but he shrugs in a way that makes Baekhyun nervous and the subject is dropped. 

‘Why do you hang out with them, then?’ Baekhyun asks, for the second time that evening not thinking before speaking out loud. Sehun looks stumped, for a while, thinking about what to answer before he actually does. 

‘I like football, and I managed to get on the football team in sophomore year, I really didn’t want to get on their bad side.’ Sehun shoves a couple of fries in his mouth, and chews on them quickly. Baekhyun ignores the fondness in his chest when he looks at Sehun chewing on them quickly. He takes a few himself, and almost puts them in his mouth when he stops. 

‘So why stand up for me?’ Sehun finishes chewing, and swallows, the older boy watching his throat as he finishes chewing and swallows too. 

‘Coach knows that I’m good at ball now, it doesn’t matter what the team thinks of me anymore.’ Baekhyun is stunned. 

‘I’m starting to think I was wrong about you, Oh Sehun.’ Baekhyun mutters, and Sehun’s wide grin reappears. Baekhyun finally looks down at his food properly, and realises Sehun and him ordered the exact same thing as he did. 

Oh. 

⋆☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⋆

Sehun drops Baekhyun off at his house almost four hours later, Baekhyun only realises when his Mom scolds him about being after curfew as soon as he walks in. Sehun walked him to the door and everything, and Sehun charms her yet again, by thanking her for letting him come out. She immediately melts, seeing the taller, handsome boy being friends her youngest son. She shoos him home, telling him that his parents are probably worried and Sehun agrees, kissing her on the cheek and waving to Baekhyun before leaving the house. 

‘He’d be the perfect husband. I hope he’s got a sweet girlfriend.’ Baekhyun’s Mom coos, watching out the window as he starts up his pick up and drives off. Baekhyun sighs. 

Baekhyun mutters indecipherably, watching him leave. His Mom sends him a look, Baekhyun avoids the discussion by telling her that he has homework. He’s halfway up the stairs when his Mom yells to him.

‘Taeyeon called, I told her you’d call when you got home.’ He stalks back down the stairs and goes to the kitchen table, picking up the phone and dialling her number. 

She answers on the fourth ring, and she launches into an epic rant worthy of some of the books on his shelf. 

‘What happened, how did it go, your Mom said you went somewhere with him, what happened?’ Taeyeon lets out, and Baekhyun laughs. 

‘Tae, chill out. We studied and it went well, and then he took me to this diner on the edge of town. All the waitresses know him by name, it was crazy. We ate, chatted, and then he drove me home and continued to charm my Mom.’

‘Eomma Byun was impressed by Sehun?’

‘For real, I thought she would abandon me and adopt him instead.’

‘Learn anything new about him?’ 

‘He’s different than I thought. Really sweet, and smart. He just doesn’t study because of football.’

‘Maybe you can be his tutor?’ she doesn’t add it, but Baekhyun can definitely hear the tone in her voice that suggests that more than just tutoring would happen. 

‘As if, Tae.’ Tae launches into a story about her cheer practice the day before when Baekhyun hears the beep signalling someone on the other line.

‘Tae, someone’s calling and I’m pretty sure it’s Baekbeom.’ 

‘We can talk about your boyfriend Oh Sehun tomorrow. Meet me outside the gates.’ Tae hangs up, and Baekhyun sighs. He presses on the answer button and his older brother’s voice carries down the line. 

‘Hey, it’s Baekbeom, can you put Mom on?’ he asks. 

‘Nice to talk to you too, Baekhyun,’ Baekhyun mutters again and then yells for his Mom. He hears his older brother laugh over the phone and his Mom takes the phone from him. ‘I’ll be upstairs.’ He tells her quietly, and disappears into his room. 

⋆☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⋆

Baekhyun meets Taeyeon at the gates that morning. She is asking him questions immediately, about Sehun, about their dinner at the diner (their date, as Taeyeon keeps referring to it). it’s a little awkward discussing it, Baekhyun thinks. 

Not because he doesn’t trust Taeyeon with his life, but that talking about their day yesterday out loud sounds like a date. Baekhyun can’t even deny it a little bit, and hearing it out loud from Taeyeon is making him think all sorts of crazy things that definitely aren’t true. 

‘Baek!. Are we working on our project today?’ Sehun stops in the hallway to ask him, and Baekhyun nods. ‘I’ll see you in the library.’ He stalks off, and Taeyeon looks visibly shocked. 

‘Sehun is so into you!’ Taeyeon whisper yells into Baekhyun’s ear. He rolls his eyes and walks away from her. 

⋆☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⋆

The day of their presentation, they meet up at lunch and go over it, before relaxing. They may as well, honestly, and Baekhyun is 110% sure that their presentation will be the best researched one of the class. 

They walk into class twenty minutes later, Sehun behind Baekhyun and Ms Bennett tells them to sit in their groups. Before Baekhyun can speak, he’s dragged to the back of the class by his wrist and sits down in one of the spots that usually belongs to one of the popular girls that Baekhyun doesn’t remember the name of. 

‘I’ve never sat at the back of class before.’ Baekhyun tells Sehun, sorta hesitantly, and Sehun laughs, but says nothing. Baekhyun feels the need to fill the silence between them so he does. ‘I like it, I feel like I could get a detention or something.’

‘What would you do that got you a detention?’ Sehun asks. ‘Besides being late for class?’ he adds, and baekhyun laughs. 

‘Not hand in homework?’ Sehun laughs again, and students start to appear and sit down with their partners. Their teacher starts to talk, and Baekhyun stops focussing on the boy sitting next to him, and instead the teacher. She’s put them presenting last in the class, so Baekhyun settles into his chair and opens his notebook. Sehun grabs it off his desk as the first group stand up in front of the class, and scribbles something in it, sliding it back across to Baekhyun’s desk. 

_It’s cute that you’re gonna take notes on their presentations_

Baekhyun rolls his eyes, and quickly writes back. 

_Let me be a nerd in peace_

Sehun takes the paper, and laughs, reading it. The teacher gives them a glare, and Baekhyun focuses back on the presentation. 

They go on forever, it’s only an hour period, but Baekhyun feels like it’s been forever since they started. Sehun is hunched over his desk, writing something down that definitely isn’t notes, and Baekhyun is watching his eyebrow scrunch up every now and again, and his shoulders move a tiny bit every time he starts writing a new line, or a page maybe. Baekhyun half expected him to slide his notebook for him to read at one point or another, but he stays focused on the paper, and continues scribbling. 

He’s beautiful, and nice, and funny, and it is destroying Baekhyun that it’s never going to work for them. It’s been a month exactly since the day he offered Baekhyun his gym clothes, a month since they started hanging out at the diner every second day of the week. 

It’s a nightmare, honestly. He’s dating the boy who he’s had a crush on since the third week of their freshman year, and said boy doesn’t know they’re dating. He doesn’t know that Baekhyun has a crush on him, or thinks about him late at night when he can’t sleep, and he gets that itch. 

Baekhyun blushes, shaking away the inappropriate thoughts from the night before that definitely weren’t appropriate for 2pm in Lit. Sehun gives him a look, of concern, or just curiosity, when the presentation ends and their teacher calls their names. 

Sehun closes his notebook, shoving into his backpack, and stands up, with Baekhyun following behind him. 

‘Your presentation is on the play ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, correct? Baekhyun nods and swallows the lump in his throat. He was so distracted by Sehun that he forgot why he was nervous to do this presentation in the first place. 

They start, regardless, discussing the synopsis of the play, and the historical context of English high society in which the play takes place, and then they get to the scary part. 

‘The Importance of Being Earnest was the last play by Oscar Wilde performed, because he was imprisoned briefly after Earnest was debuted, and died five years later.’ Baekhyun says, shakily, avoiding the controversial part, and continues talking. 

He thought he’d managed to not say anything, but later a girl from close to the back of the room puts her hand up, and asks why he was put in prison, and Baekhyun’s life flashes before his eyes. It’s pretty boring, he thinks, he should probably start being fun before he’s murdered by the football team or something. 

‘Well, from what is known about him, and what I could find in the library, Oscar Wilde was dating the son of a Scottish nobleman, who used his power to have Wilde arrested.’ 

‘So he was a fag?’ one of the boys in the back asks, disgustedly. Baekhyun winces at the language, but nods carefully.

‘Yeah, I guess.’ Baekhyun answers. 

‘No wonder his work was shit and no one knew who he was.’ Another one of the boys in the back yells. 

‘Just because someone is gay doesn’t mean that they can’t do or make good things. Walt Whitman was probably gay, and Lorraine Hansberry who wrote ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ was definitely a lesbian. If none of you picked up on that when we were studying them, then you’re idiots.’ 

‘Why are you defending him, Byun, are you a fag too?’ the first kid asks, and Baekhyun’s stomach drops. his mouth drops open, unable to reply, for a few seconds, before he collects himself. 

‘Uh, no, I’m not, I just don’t think you should be a dick.’ Baekhyun answers, and hushed whispers start across the room. Baekhyun stares at them, and at Sehun standing next to him saying nothing. He hears one of the kids call him a fag, and that he’s gonna give them AIDS. He hears another saying that they heard that Baekhyun was caught shopping with Taeyeon at the mall one time, and that they weren’t surprised to hear that Baekhyun is a fag. 

Of course he’s been shopping with Taeyeon, she’s his best friend. And now they’re using the straightest relationship ever to prove that he’s gay. He looks at Sehun, and realises how fucked up this is. 

Sehun is good, he’s popular and nice, and he’s gonna be dragged down by Baekhyun. He’s about to lose a friend, he thinks, there’s absolutely no way that Sehun isn’t going to abandon him as soon as the rumours get out, and so for Sehun’s sake, he runs. 

He leaves the classroom, and sprints down the hallway, he can’t breathe, but he runs anyway. He knows, that they’re just rumours, that it probably doesn’t mean anything. By tomorrow, everyone might have forgotten, and Baekhyun could come into school and hang out with Taeyeon and Junmyeon, and Kyungsoo, and no one would say any more mean things in the hallway than they usually do. 

Or it could be worse. He decides to go home, and just get into bed. If he sleeps, he can ignore this for a little while, and tomorrow it’ll be better.

⋆☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⋆

He makes it home in absolute record time, and runs up to his bedroom, slamming the door behind him. he carefully climbs into his bed, and starts sobbing. His Mom comes running up after him, and sits on the corner of his bed, rubbing his leg

‘Baekhyun-ah, it’s okay. Everything will be okay.’ 

‘I’m gay, Eomma. I don’t like girls, I like boys.’ Baekhyun manages to speak through his loud sobs, and his Mom looks at him. 

‘Baekie, are you sure?’ his Mom asks, and Baekhyun sobs harder, waiting for the speech that he knows is coming. ‘Baekhyun-ah, calm down. I’ll get you some tea, just relax and breathe. Everything will be fine.’ His mother disappears out of his room as soon as she came, and Baekhyun’s chest begins to hurt. 

She hates him, like everyone else. Like the kids in school, like Kyungsoo and Junmyeon probably will once they find out. Like Sehun. Baekhyun shifts in his bed, holding on tightly to a bear that Taeyeon had bought him almost four years before. 

Except she appears again a few minutes later, holding a mug. She puts it down on his side table, and sits back down on the bed.

‘I can’t pretend I understand at all, Baekhyun-ah, but I want you to know that I still love you, and nothing will ever change that. I know you probably aren’t up to talking right now, but when you are, we can sit down, okay? Until then, please drink some tea.’ She encourages him to sit up, and put down the bear, and instead drink his tea and breathe properly. ‘Now what happened?’ 

‘School found out, Eomma. I had my presentation with Sehunnie today and everyone found out I was gay accidentally, and I just ran. Didn’t stay to hear their reactions, besides them saying that I was disgusting, and that I was gonna give them AIDS.’ 

‘You and Sehun?’ his Mom realises, and he takes a big gulp of the scalding tea. He shakes his head, but she gives him a knowing look and he relents. 

‘We’re not dating, I like him, but I don’t know if he likes me back.’ 

‘This gay thing is new to me, Baekhyun-ah, I don’t know about it at all, but I do know that Sehun is a good boy who will stand by you through this.’ The doorbell rings from downstairs, and Baekhyun’s Mom gets off his bed again. ‘I’ll bet that’s him, Baekhyunnie.’ She smiles, and Baekhyun hears her open the door downstairs. A few seconds later, Sehun, Taeyeon, Kyungsoo and Junmyeon are all in his room. 

Taeyeon is the first one to pull him into a hug, whispering in his ear that everything would be okay. ‘Did you tell them?’ Baekhyun asks her quietly, and both Junmyeon and Kyungsoo turn their attention to Taeyeon sitting next to him. she shakes her head, and lays her head on his shoulder.

‘You don’t have to tell us, if you don’t want to. we can put on some music, or get food or something?’ Kyungsoo asks, and Baekhyun shakes his head.

‘I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, but if it’s bad then you need to know.’ Baekhyun takes a big breath and wipes the corners of his eyes. Taeyeon rubs his thigh comfortingly, and he breathes out. 

‘I’m gay. During our presentation today, the rumour started that I could be gay in our class, and I ran out.’ 

‘Oh.’ One of them says. Sehun has a blank look on his face that isn’t any different than usual, and Baekhyun curses him silently How dare he, show up after all of this, listen to Baekhyun come out and say nothing. 

The moment is short lived, because Junmyeon is crossing the room to pull him into a hug, and not letting go. ‘Yah, Myeon, you’re going to squish him to death.’ Kyungsoo tells him. Baekhyun thinks it’s for his benefit, but instead Kyungsoo pulls him into a hug too. ‘We have so much to discuss.’ Soo whispers, before pulling away and giving him a mischievous look. His eyes dart over to Sehun for a second before settling again on Baekhyun. Taeyeon clearly saw the movement, and an amused huff leaves her lips before she falls silent again. 

Finally, Sehun kneels in front of Baekhyun and places his hands on Baekhyun’s cheeks. ‘I don’t care if you’re gay, Baekhyunnie, it doesn’t matter.’ Sehun pulls him into a hug, and Baekhyun feels all warm on the inside again, despite the genuine terror that resided in his chest until Sehun hugged him. ‘You know I’m not going to let anything else happen to you at school, so there’s no need to worry.’

Baekhyun finds it harder and harder to deny that Sehun has feelings for him. that whole speech felt very, attached, and concerned for Baekhyun’s safety, on a level far outweighing that of Kyungsoo or Junmyeon. He just placed his hands on Baekhyun’s cheeks, like he was going to kiss him. the shorter boy thought for a second there, he really thought Sehun was. 

‘How did you all know to come here?’ Baekhyun asks, voice muffled by Sehun’s muscled shoulder that Baekhyun is currently nestled into. 

‘Sehun came rushing into cheer practice and told me something had happened, and then I got Junmyeon and Kyungsoo from the choir room and Sehun drove us here. We need to keep him, not having to walk is awesome.’ Taeyeon tells them, and Kyungsoo’s eyebrows raise slightly. Sehun finally pulls away from the hug and sits down next to Baekhyun on his bed. 

‘Getting us from choir is an understatement.’

‘She dragged us out and told us that she would never let us hang out again if we didn’t come with you.’ Junmyeon complains, and she hits him on the arm. 

‘Stop being a wuss, I just figured Baekhyun would want friends around him if something bad happened.’ Baekhyun remembers why she is his best friend in that moment. She’s been sticking up for him since they met when they were six and she moved in next door. 

He’s broken out of his thoughts by Sehun speaking up since their _almost_ romantic moment. 

‘I was thinking on the way over here, I can drive you to and from school, and between us, at least one of us should be able to make sure no one comes near you at lunch, or between classes.’ Sehun says quietly, and Baekhyun starts sobbing again. Sehun looks terrified, and doesn’t understand why Baekhyun is crying. ‘Or, we can not help you?’ Sehun asks, and Kyungsoo gives him a glare. 

‘He’s not upset, you idiot.’ Taeyeon says before the boys get into a fight about something stupid. She pulls him into her chest, playing with his hair lightly as he tries to control his breathing a little bit so he can speak. 

‘I thought you would all abandon me.’ He sobs, and the three boys look between each other, suddenly understanding his outburst.

‘I sorta knew, I heard you talking about your crush with Tae in the hall once.’ Kyungsoo tells him, and Baekhyun sees Sehun suddenly interested in knowing who he was crushing on. it’s a problem for another day, Baekhyun thinks and forces it out of his mind for now. 

‘I didn’t know, but I don’t care. It doesn’t affect me, or anyone else.’ Junmyeon adds. Sehun stays quiet, but makes eye contact with Baekhyun and gives him a pat on the shoulder. 

‘We’ll work this out, I promise Baekhyun-ah.’ Sehun says finally, and the room falls into comfortable quiet. 

⋆☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⭒ ☆ ⋆

School the next day is, _interesting_ , to say the least. Baekhyun walks into the hallway with Sehun next to him, and Taeyeon on the other side. The general chatter stops as they walk in, and is replaced by hushed whispers directly pointed at him. 

There’s usually a few, rumours fly fast around Park Hill and Baekhyun is aware that occasionally, they gossip about him. the gossip is rarely about him, it’s usually about the football team and which one was caught cheating on their girlfriend, or which one of their parties ended with the cops coming, but this time, it definitely was. 

Baekhyun catches a few words, mostly about him running away from class yesterday, and Sehun and him suddenly being friends. 

The withering stares and uncomfortable silence, getting worse as he saunters in. People he knew blatantly following them with their eyes as he walked past them. Some of them were definitely confused about seeing Sehun with him, but he put on a blank face and continued walking to his locker. 

It’s a short walk to his locker, usually, the walk from the gates outside to Baekhyun’s locker, but today it feels longer than it ever has. 

They reach his locker, and Baekhyun hesitantly starts putting his things away. Taeyeon and Sehun standing directly behind them, quietly chatting to him but clearly not focused on his answers, instead watching the people walking past them, and in Taeyeon’s case, giving them glares to stop them from staring at the back of Baekhyun.

Baekhyun feels relieved to have them, and worries about when he doesn’t have one of the strongest boys in school behind him, defending him if anything happens, but quickly shoves the thought out of his mind as he closes his locker and securing it shut again. 

‘You have trig now, yeah?’ Sehun asks. Taeyeon must have given him Baekhyun’s schedule, because no way he would have remembered, right? They definitely hadn’t discussed it that morning. 

Despite his bodyguards next to him, on the way to Trig, Brandon Rogers himself stands in front of Baekhyun and stops him from getting any further down the hallway. He’s flanked by his usual posse, and Baekhyun rolls his eyes at them clearly trying to intimidate the three of them.

Taeyeon and Baekhyun take a step back, and Sehun steps in front of them protectively, puffing his chest up slightly. Baekhyun’s chest warms, but he doesn’t say anything, instead grabbing Taeyeon’s arm and pulling her closer to Baekhyun.

‘You’ve got yourself protection, I see, fag.’ Sehun lunges at rogers, and his two goons step back, but he stays firmly in place. They stare at each other for a little while, Baekhyun has never seen Brandon Rogers look so pissed off. 

‘Watch it, Rogers.’ Sehun almost snarls, and Baekhyun reaches out to pat him on the shoulder, and to drag him back a little. 

‘You know, Sehun, people might think you’re a fairy, if you keep hanging out with Byun here.’ Baekhyun and Taeyeon both grab Sehun by the arm and pull him back after he lunges again. 

‘Nothing we say is gonna change your mind, but just remember Sehun beat you to the football team, he could probably beat the stupid out of you, too.’ Sehun turns to him and gives him a questionable look, straightens up and his glare turns back towards Rogers. 

‘Watch yourself, fag, you might have backup now, but they can’t protect you all the time.’ One of his goons pats Brandon on the back, and they turn on their heel and walk back down the hallway. 

‘You know I’ve never punched anyone, right?’ Sehun asks Baekhyun quietly, and Taeyeon laughs out loud, causing a few of the students surrounding them to turn back towards them, and gossip more. 

‘Oh shut up, all of you.’ Taeyeon exclaims, scaring both Sehun and Baekhyun. The students all close their lockers and scatter in different directions. ‘I forget I’m powerful, sometimes.’ Baekhyun rolls his eyes at Taeyeon, but gives her a grin anyway. 

‘We get it, the cheerleader and the star football player.’ Baekhyun means to joke, but instead he feels bitter when, ‘Maybe you two should date,’ slips out of his mouth before he can stop it. Sehun gives him another undecipherable look, and Taeyeon shoves his shoulder.

‘I can do so much better than him,’ Sehun’s eyebrows quirk a little, and a little smile appears on Sehun’s face. Baekhyun is confused, at his smile, but then Taeyeon talks again. ‘Plus, I think he has his eye on someone.’ Sehun’s face turns sour, but he doesn’t say anything. 

The bell rings, saving Baekhyun asking who Sehun has a crush on, and Sehun denying it. instead, Taeyeon and Sehun silently walk him to class, promising that Sehun will be there when the bell rings to walk him to his next class. Baekhyun thanks them again, pulling Taeyeon into a hug, and promising to hang out at lunch. He walks into his class and sits down, taking out his textbook and starts focusing on trigonometry.

**Author's Note:**

> i dont really keep up with social media or anything anymore, busy with uni and life and all but, if you wanna say hey, chuck a comment in here or smth if you're so inclined.


End file.
